Grey Journey
by iMachine
Summary: Based on The Last of Us. This story focuses on a young man, his younger cousin, and mother and how they try to survive in the post-apocalyptic world dominated by the fungal parasite. When something devastating happens to all three of them, they must go through disastrous trials. Will their journey pay off? (Note: Joel, Ellie, Tommy, and Maria will be mentioned in later chapters)
1. Introduction - Hell

_Apart from the rest of the story, the introduction will be written from Joshua's point of view._

* * *

My youngest cousin and I were born into a world of violence and devastation, and that's only the mildest way to describe it. I've stuck with her since the day she was born. I'm twenty years old, and I'm approximately eight years and nine days older than her. So that makes her twelve. Unfortunately it's just my mom, her and I. Everyone else in our family is either dead or long gone out of communication. I worry about the communication part more than anything because...well, at least I know the dead ones are dead. You're probably wondering who the hell would have kids in this shitty era. Well, it's pretty understandable as to why. My mom had my oldest brother a couple of years before the fungal infection spread and my mom had my sister after they started moving to quarantined zones. Then, I was born. My brother was mostly the one who told me stories about how it used to be. My sister was lucky too because she got a small taste of how the world was before it completely went to hell. All I remember is them growing up, hanging out with other gangs of people and survivors and eventually falling in love. Most of them ran off and got married. Of course my mom never agreed with it, but that's when the teary confession of being happy for once and guilt came up. My brother ran off to "start anew" and my sister is off with some Haitian husband we don't know much about. My mom doesn't cry much. Sometimes I'm surprised by how much she can endure. The only time she ever cried was when my youngest cousin's dad died a year ago. He was her baby brother. Erlina's dad was hearing impaired and his vision wasn't the least bit good.

It all started when someone that was infected managed to pass through one of the guards back at the Quarantined Zone. It was located at Elmhurst in Queens, New York. The US Military managed to take over Queens Center Mall and claimed it under ownership of the government. It was only a matter of time before people were able to move in. The mall was large enough to harbor over six hundred people. The mall wasn't in the best shape like it was twenty years ago according to the pictures, but nobody cared. The guards didn't have to worry about people stealing clothes or food because it was all already long gone before they even got there. We still had our rations though. Everything was going great for years until that one asshole had to ruin it for the rest of us. My mom pointed out someone twitching and sweating. A girl beside the man, presumably his girlfriend, was trying her hardest to conceal him, but it did him no good.

Later that night, I remember hearing screaming. The same guy that the bitch was trying to protect ended up killing his girlfriend. After he was finished with her, he went on a rampage attacking anyone that ran past him. After that, it was complete chaos. The guards couldn't do anything about it. Trying to calm over six-hundred people was impossible and I remember hearing one of the leaders demanding to "occupy" them. I also remembered getting lost in the crowd apart from my mom and uncle. It was just me and Erlina and we hid underneath a table. Soon after, we started hearing gun shots one after another. It just wouldn't stop. I could still hear it to this day. I remember bodies falling on top of one another like dominoes and I had to make Erlina look away. But it didn't matter which way she turned because everywhere she did, there was bloodshed. I remember they were up to their last person. He shouted, pleading for his very life, he even got on his knees. I remember him being Asian. I don't know why that mattered, but I wanted to save him. He was the same age as I was and I feel like we could've been friends. I felt weak, and technically I was. There was nothing I could do. Within the last few moments of those thoughts, a bullet was placed right into his brain. It was summer, and it was really hot. I remember sweating a whole bunch from stress and anxiety. I put my head down and looked at my palms rested on the floor. That's when my eyes began to water... and I sniffled. That's when I saw a light shine on me. I looked up to see a fully armed guard toss the table from over me and my cousin's head and aimed his stupid rifle right at us. I quickly grabbed my cousin and wrapped her in my arms, hoping to protect her. If he wanted to kill us, he could kill me before he got to her. I closed my eyes and I could feel my cousin whimpering heavily as she clutched my flannel shirt the hardest she could. Within a couple of seconds we heard a loud gunshot. We both jumped, but I didn't feel a thing. I was wondering if maybe that's how it felt to die or maybe I was in some sort of shock. That's when I heard a body fall. I turned to see that the guard fell to his knees and flat to the floor. I noticed a pool of blood pour out from his neck and I turned to the escalator to see my mom with a handgun.

My overly religious mom never believed in violence and she never owned a gun from the get-go. She carried her bible everywhere she went, and it pissed me off how she read it almost every day. She looked startled and frightened and had a look of despair in her eyes. Her palms were the sweatiest of all, and she kept trembling. After that we followed her up the stairs to the main level before the others spotted us. It wasn't easy. I just remember having to hide in a every corner, behind every pillar and as soon as we neared the parking lot that were a couple of levels up, we noticed that some infected had made their way inside the mall. Thankfully (and I can't believe I'm saying this), but if they didn't, we probably wouldn't have made it out alive. They took all the guards attention away from us and every single one of those bastards deserved to die after what they did.

We climbed into my mom's old beige toyota corolla. It's rims were missing and it's dented up bumper was as bad as the hood. It still had gas that we stole a couple of days ago and managed to make it out of the parking lot. I had never seen my mom drive so quickly or swiftly. We heard gunshots, but eventually we made it out of the mall's parking lot and managed to make it unto the parkway. Believe it or not, my brother told me that my mom use to hate driving and hated the parkway, but not there's really nothing to fear about the highway. I could bet my life that she would rather be speeding away on a highway in a car rather than with those things outside.

However, that's when the question about my uncle arose. Erlina asked where her daddy was about five times. My mom didn't answer the first three. That's when it was explained to us that he wouldn't be coming with us. He and many others were taken out during that blood bath. It was like the world around me had gone mute. Erlina placed her head on me in the backseat and began sobbing and gagging. She couldn't stop crying. My mom was driving, but she was just sniffling the whole ride. Of course, I just had tears streaming down my face. I felt bad for the kid. She had to go through life without a mom, and now my uncle was torn out the picture.

What the hell? If this was life's plague to balance and pan out the human population, it was crap.


	2. Chapter 1 - Volunteer

_Even though it was mentioned in the introduction, Joshua and Erlina are a year younger. Both of their birthdays haven't passed yet._

**Summer**

* * *

A year had passed and it was right back to summer all over again. No one was really sure what time of the day, day of week, or month it was, but it must've been late July or early August since the weather started cooling down. This whole time, Joshua, his mother, and Erlina had been camping inside of a really old house Joshua's mom use to work at. They would take care of clients that were mentally disabled and it was attached to two other houses that had other clients and workers. Joshua was told by his mother that she use to take care of them by helping them do various things such as bathing them, feeding them, and giving them medication. When they first came in the house to escape from the quarantine zone it was pretty disturbing to see that most of her clients had been left to turn. It broke her heart. She had enough bullets in the gun she found in order to kill them off. Joshua remembered having to tell Erlina to stay put in the car because he had to run in to see if his mom was in danger, but she was fine. She sure did waste a lot of bullets, though and she realized that was something she had to change.

Erlina was slowly walking down the stairs after a short evening nap. The sun was already dawning, and she was fully armed because she knew what time it was. She'd been preparing for it for some time now and it normally took Josh's mom a lot of convincing. Erlina came downstairs clothed in black jeans and brown boots she used for tough, long walks. She wore a white top, but over it was a really thin, short sleeved denim jacket. It took months of scavenging to find the items they have, but it was still never really enough. Erlina wore glasses, and they were still in really good condition surprisingly. Just recently, Josh's mom took the time to do Erlina's hair, and added African box braids to her hair. Erlina's hair fell a little past her shoulders, and she tied it up in a half up half down style. She looked like a little hunter, and Joshua found it pretty difficult not to smile at her.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Erlina's aunt asked her.

"Yes, Aunty Pamela. I told you a million times already. I have to learn anyway. There might come a time where I'll be on my ow—"

"Don't—Don't say that." Joshua said placing his hand up telling her to stop.

"She's right, you know," Pamela said with her most expressing West Indian accent. All these years in America and her accent were still somewhat thick.

Joshua walked to the corner of the living room they were waiting in and opened a closet door that held most of their ammunition and tools. As usual, they were running low. Joshua armed himself with about five small throwing knives. He had a small bandolier over his black sweater that helped him keep the knives safely hidden. Around his right thigh, strapped on top of his blue colored pants, he always kept a small shorty in a holster. Unfortunately he was running low on bullets. On top of that, around the right side of his hip was a handgun. On his left hip was a sheath with a concealed machete. He needed something that could fit a shotgun. Over his head, he wore a thin black beanie hat.

Reaching in, he got a bow and quiver filled with six arrows and handed it to Erlina. He never knew how to use one, but eventually they learned, and Erlina was the one who got the most experience and training with it. She became a natural quite fast. She was also armed with a small folding knuckle knife; pretty much a brass knuckle and knife in a one. It may sound like something, but Joshua and Erlina were sitting ducks compared to other hunters.

The house was only lit by candles and the windows were boarded and nailed up. Joshua and his mother had taken the whole day to board up every window the day they first moved in. Then they did the other two houses the preceding two days.

"Why can't Erlina stay and I go?" Pamela asked.

"No offence mom, but you're not really cut out for this type of stuff anymore...you're in your fifties," Joshua argued, "Who's to say that we come back here and Erlina's either infected or dead? We have a much better chance of you staying here and being able to protect yourself and her being with me,"

She nodded in understanding and didn't really question him. She knew deep down he did it because he cared and partly because he was right. She was getting worn out. Her bones were beginning to hurt and her lower back problems were getting worse from so much lifting. Don't get it wrong though, that Beretta she found on the floor at the mall had done her wonders ever since then. Luckily for her, it was the one gun she found the most ammo for. She used regular kitchen knives for stabbing or whatever, and she also had a rifle that she sat beside in a rocking chair just in case shit went down when she was spotting the house.

"Be back soon, okay? If you both stay out too long I'll come looking for you," she said.

"Yeah, sure," Joshua said before giving his mom a quick peck on the cheek and leaving.

As for Erlina, Pamela gave her wonderful niece a peck as well, and Erlina followed on after him. They both grabbed their bags in order to gather their objects in. They kept things such as bottled water and crackers in it just in case. Joshua had a small brown colored bag and placed it on his back. Erlina had a black shoulder bag with a Hello Kitty insignia on it that hung from her right shoulder down the left side of her body. Her quiver was underneath and vise-versa and she had her recurve bow equipped in her grip.

The streets cars were all rusted up and blocking certain paths in the street. You could tell there was an accident when this was all happening because three of them looked like they collided. There were patches of tall weeds growing out of cracks in the pavement. Most of the grasses were so high that it hid Pamela's car very well from any survivors looking for a place to take over. You could say that Josh and Pam technically scavenged every house in the neighborhood. So it took Joshua a while to think before he made his next move. Turning back to look at the house, they still saw Pamela peeking through the boarded up wood with her arms crossed. He sighed while rolled his eyes and began stagger off, watching his step as he stepped over broken bottles and whatnot.

"Are we going to search in there?" Erlina said pointing at a large building that was somewhat across the street from the job.

"My mom told me that was a catholic school. I could only begin to imagine how many infected are in that thing..." Joshua replied not taking his eye off the building.

Erlina began to assume right away that there must've been more dependable items in a catholic school rather than a regular school. Erlina looked down for a moment as she walked behind him and looked back up.

"Let's go in there..." Erlina said looking over at it.

"Let's go where?" Joshua exclaimed while turning around. He continued walking backwards and looked at her to make sure that she was talking about somewhere else.

"That school." She said looking up at him, slightly fixing her spectacles back up on the bridge of her nose

"Hell no, are you insane?" He asked her.

"Fine..." she said with a small smile looking down.

Joshua smiled back and continued walking.

"Where are we going then?" She asked.

"I was thinking we could go to that gas station up ahead?"

"Didn't we check there already?"

"Not entirely...we didn't check the garage. It's been barricaded for days and I'm sure they've got to have _something_." Joshua said carefully looking around as they walked the area. Things were different from the pictures he had seen on the refrigerator at his mom's old job. The streets were clear and there were definitely no wild animals inhabiting the area. It was all different now. Deer and monkeys were mostly seen all over the place. Sometimes there were raccoon and sometimes there were hogs. Hogs were Joshua's favorite thing to catch since the outcome was some kind of pork or bacon. Erlina didn't really have a favorite. She just appreciated everything that came her way.

"There it is..." Joshua said pointing at the gas station.

Immediately, Josh began jogging and Erlina just managed to keep up with him. Once they reached the gas station, they walked past the pumps outside. It made no sense using a pump because it had to be controlled from the inside and they doubted that it was full anyway.

"Where does the gas come from anyway?" Erlina asked after examining the gas dispenser. She removed the pump from the dispenser and played with the pump, squeezing and releasing the handle over and over again.

"Well, from what I remember being told, there were large gas tanks built in underneath the gas station. Every now and then a gasoline truck would drive by and have to fill it up."

Erlina looked like she were going to speak but she paused after a moment or two.

"What?" Joshua said looking at her with a smile.

"I was going to say that we could take that instead, but I guess it weights a ton," she said making a dumbfounded face.

Of course Joshua couldn't hold his laugh in and he began to snicker from laughter. Erlina began to chuckle too, but it was brought right to a halt after hearing something bang the garage door with ferocity from the inside. Joshua quickly grabbed his shorty with his right hand and held Erlina back with his left. At that point Erlina already had her bow and arrow intact and was ready to fire. Listening closely, they heard gross croaking noises and new exactly what it was from the jump.

"Ugh...a clicker's in there?" Joshua questioned in misbelief after placing his thin, slightly bruised, hands on his forehead.

"Never mind let's go home..." He said. Frustratingly, he turned to go back home.

Erlina straddled behind him and rested her hand on his arm,

"Wait, why?"

Joshua sighed and placed his hands on his hips and found it pretty difficult for what he was about to tell her. He only imagined what could've happened if he didn't expect this any sooner.

"Look, there's an open space through the back of the garage and its small enough for you to fit through there. I was going to send you in there to see if you could find a few items...like a gasoline can or something" he explained.

"Now, let's go home because it turns out that's not happening."

Joshua exhaled sharply and continued walking. Erlina didn't bother moving; instead she just stood in her spot and kicked a little bit of the dirt around. A breeze picked up and she placed a lock of her head braids behind her ear.

"I'll do it..." she said slightly disappointed.

"What?" Joshua said looking at her with an unsure look.

"I said I'll do it, Joshua..." she said bending down and picking up a rock. She eventually used her arm to toss the rock at the garage door to alert the little sucker that was inside. Clickers were somewhat the simplest thing to take down because it didn't always involve too much combat. Either way, Erlina knew she was equipped to take it down. Joshua needed to take a moment to correct everything in his head. She paced back and forth. It was something desperate, but what it that important; Important enough to put his _eleven _year old cousin's life on the line?

"Erlina do you know what could happen to you if you go in there?"

She looked at his lanky body for a moment and looked down at her pigeon toed feet. Looking up at him, she breathed in slightly and exhaled, giving a small nod afterward.

"I could die..."

Joshua closed his eyes and looked away taking a moment to think. Looking back up, he nodded,

"Okay."


	3. Chapter 2 - Modern Pirates

**Summer**

* * *

"Remember what I told you. Stay down at all costs and try not to make too much noise. If anything happens, be quick," Joshua said fixing up her collar and resting his arms on her shoulders. He looked her in the eyes just before pulling her in to give her a hug.

"So, how does this sound range thing work again?" Erlina asked just to be assured.

Joshua sighed and wondered what the best way of explaining this was. He remembered that she was eleven and there were some explanations she just couldn't understand. He looked around and walked a few feet away from her. Looking around he brought up both arms from his sides.

"Okay. Imagine I'm a clicker. My arms are-are how far the sound waves of my clicking travel, right?"

Erlina rested her back on the old, rusted gas dispenser and dug in her bag to chop on a couple of crackers.

"That's pretty wide..." Erlina commented.

Joshua scoffed and slapped his sides as his arms fell,

"Well, I know that, but they aren't really that wide. We're just pretending they are because I'm trying to figure out how to explain this to you the simplest way possible..."

Erlina began snorting by covering her mouth and nose so nothing unfriendly would fly out of it. Her laugh was creepily annoying, as Josh would describe it.

"What?" Joshua questioned.

"I know how it works. It was just funny seeing you do that."

A smirk grew on Joshua's face and he stuck his tongue out at her.

Erlina took her bow off her shoulder and prepared herself so that her quiver was in an accessible position. Joshua made his way around to the back the gas station garage and she followed. She glared at the space in the wall and looked at it for a couple of seconds before releasing a large breath. The stress could be seen flying in the air, and Erlina moved in. She crouched down and got on her knees and slowly crawled through the space. Joshua stood on the outside and his heartbeat gained speed as her feet began to disappear through the space. He normally would've spoken, but he was too afraid to gain the clickers attention and get his cousin killed.

Erlina was officially in the premises of a clicker. Luckily, there were two cars in the garage. One was a regular convertible while the other was similar to a minivan. The closest was the minivan and she stood hidden behind it. The clicker croaked and began to grossly roam the room; therefore Erlina couldn't stay in one place. As the clicker neared her she managed to quickly creep away from it without diverting any attention to her little feet. The only thing that startled Erlina was the fact that she could be a goner if this thing got his hands on her. Physically overpowering a clicker was nearly impossible for anyone else, especially a little girl.

Erlina remembered the first time they encountered one. It was Joshua and her aunt Pamela. A clicker managed to get a hold of Joshua and he tried kicking it. It did nothing but only make it more aggressive before her aunt put a cleaver through its neck. Then she began raging about how he lied on completely reading the manual that the military sent out on the stupid things.

The clicker, again walked around the other car Erlina hid by. She managed to make her way between the cars and walked behind it to give it a stab. Unfortunately, just as she were going to do that, her side knocked a small cart on wheels, causing it to roll and bump into one of the cars. The wrenches and tools fell behind her and she immediately faced the direction of the clicker and heard its cry. Quickly, she got up and delicately paced to the very corner of the garage on the opposite side. Joshua, from the outside, heard the noise and began to panic. He was shaking. Immediately, he placed his stomach on the ground and peaked through the inside. He only saw Erlina's two feet shuffle through the space underneath the cars. He knew not to shout because that would only get her into more danger.

The best time to attack the creature was now, and it was time to stop hesitating. She pulled out one of her six arrows from her quiver and placed it intact with her bow. Pointing it to the ground, Erlina slowly walked behind the creature and lifted the bow with her right arm, loaded the arrow with her left and having the end of it between her index and middle finger. Along with the string, she pulled back the arrow and slightly turned her head to the side, using her right eye as the dominant. Releasing the string, the velocity caused the arrow to quickly twirl and beam through the clicker's cranium within a split second. It yelped just as it fell forward to the ground. After it stopped twitching and croaking, Erlina confirmed to herself that it was dead.

"Killed it," Erlina said gulping after an exhale.

Normally, she fixed the glasses upon the bridge of her nose and walked around hearing Joshua compliment her through the space in the wall behind her. She turned over to see that the space in the wall had some light shining through Joshua's shadows. She walked over to the clicker that was on the floor immediately noticed that she was having difficulty pulling the arrow out of its head. She went unto one knee and tugged her hardest, eventually getting it out. She reached in her side bag and took out an old hand cloth. Using it, she wiped the blood off the arrow. Erlina could observe that shooting a clicker with an arrow would be much harder than usual. She's shot at large birds and other animals, maybe a human was different? But this thing wasn't human.

Placing the arrow back in her quiver, Erlina explored the garage. It looked much larger from the outside. It probably looked small because of all the cluttering. A girl Erlina's age could tell that someone had been camping there, or probably still was. If that was the case, she needed to get out of there quick. She searched all the counter tops that were pretty much dominated by empty plates and mosquitoes. Looking up she found a small red container that filled with some kind of liquid substance. Erlina didn't know much about cars, but she knew that gas had a thick consistency and there was no time to sit and question it. Just as Erlina took it off the shelf and placed it on the ground, she glanced up for a split second before looking down. Then she looked back up again. She saw pictures on a thumbtack board with men and families. They looked so happy. Standing up to fully examine the picture she could tell it was before the infection. She couldn't imagine a world where you didn't have to fight for your life each and every day. Continuing back to her task, she managed to lift the gasoline can and walk over to the space she crawled through. She slid it underneath, and immediately, Josh managed to place it in his back pack. It took up enough space, and Josh had to make sure the top was sealed tightly.

After fully zipping his book bag, Erlina safely crawled out, extending her arm and grabbing her quiver and bow from the inside. Placing her quiver back on, and her bow around her shoulder, she was tugged to the ground.

"Stay low..." Joshua said.

Erlina looked up at Josh with the most frightened look.

"I just heard a couple of gunshots. It might be more bandits," he muttered.

"Again? Why have so many been coming here...?" Erlina asked.

"Who knows, but that's why mom, you, and I have to get the hell out of here..."

They were both in the clear for now since they were hidden behind the garage, but they had to slowly creep out and hide along the rusted cars. Thankfully, some were still parked along the sidewalks and stacked in the streets, and it made stealth so much easier. Josh had to pick up his speed and he made it across the street that led back to the block where his mother was camping. He checked almost every second to make sure Erlina was planted to his back. Shortly, they stopped to make sure the coast was clear and that they weren't followed. Everything seemed fine; however, going through the front would've been the stupidest idea ever since you'd practically be in the open. Josh continued to the far right of the houses, which was the furthest side from the entrance. Hopping over the back fence to make his way through the single backyard of the attached houses, he carefully walked behind a large tree and found a ladder that was purposely hidden. Quickly hustling and carrying it to the house, he placed it beside the roof top that stood over the back door while Erlina kept a look out.

"Come on!" Joshua whispered sharply to her.

She ran towards him and he placed his hand on her sides to help her climb the ladder quicker. Within a couple of seconds, she was already making her way inside the upstairs window through the small rooftop. Joshua followed after looking out and did the same. Continuously rolling up his sleeves, he used all the strength in his thin, yet built, arms and managed to pull the ladder in through the window with him. Entering the room quite loudly, he let it rest flatly on the floor. Running to the window, he slammed it shut and locked it.

Erlina ran ahead walked downstairs to glimpse her aunt sleeping in the rocking stair.

"Aunty Pamela!" Erlina called coming down the stairs.

She woke up, slowly regaining focus to what was going on around her and sat up quickly to see what was happening. Joshua ran down quicker, skipping stairs. Once he placed his eyes on her, he examined her face and it wasn't hard to tell that she was asleep.

"Were you sleeping?" he questioned in disbelief.

"No, I wasn't sleeping. I was just-just closing my eyes," she confessed.

"Is there a difference?" He said quite angered.

She sucked her teeth and stood up, placing her hands in her pockets.

"Did you two get the gas?" she remembered.

"Yeah, but there are some bandits around here..." Joshua added.

"Again?" she said in a fussy tone. She peaked through a space in the planks of wood that boarded up in their window and noticed about four guys coming in their direction.

Immediately, Pamela took her sniper rifle and walked upstairs with it. She was going to kill them if it meant protecting her only family. She learned that over years of facing this infection. She was so religious, and faith was something she always clung unto until that day at the mall. She still kept her bible around though.

"Erlina, hide. Joshua, get ready to protect the entrance or fight off anyone who tries to come in."

Joshua nodded, and looked at Erlina. Immediately, she ran into a room that was across the joining room they were standing in. Erlina normally slept in the room, and she stood crouched by the doorway, hidden behind an old pine dresser. She was breathing a little heavy, but not loud enough for something to hear her. Looking through the spaces of the wood nailed to the window, Josh noticed three bandits walking towards the house.

"Stay back!" Joshua shouted.

He slid down with his back facing the wall and he stared at Erlina who looked at him in surprise. Using his hand, he swatted the air, signaling her to stop poking her head out of the doorway before a bullet managed to make it between her eyes. Peaking through the lower space of the window, he saw the first man place his hands up.

"We don't want any trouble!" the first bandit shouted. He was Caucasian with a pretty stocky built. Hell, the two others looked built too. Odds like this frightened Josh. How was a thin young guy like him, along with a young girl and frail woman in her fifties going to hold their own against some extra-large douches?

There was one African American with him, and the other guy was a Caucasian male as well, with a distinctively blond scruff. He was slightly shorter than the first two.

"You know, we were just looking for a place to crash in for the night. We come in peace" the first man spoke, "We have food and clothes in a trunk couple blocks away.

"Well, this place is off limits!" Josh shouted back, "So thanks, but no thanks. Move along!"

The first man continued speaking.

"Look we don't want any tro—" However, he was cut off by the shorter man in the back.

"Gus, stop wasting our damn time! He sounds like a young'n. We could rush in there and but a bullet in that kid's brain," he spat.

"You're ruining the plan, T," the Black male spoke.

"Who cares? I bet that little shit was the one that killed our men that was sent a couple weeks ago!" He cussed in an even more vicious tone.

A long pause occurred and Joshua had to peak through the space just to see what they were doing. It was getting dark, and the sun was setting. More of the infected would come out soon, so whatever the situation was between these two needed to be resolved fast. Unfortunately, that's when they began to take a few steps.

"I guess the cat's out of the bag, huh?" Joshua said. Hoping they would stop.

Fortunately, the first man did.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he said standing firmly and crossing his arms.

Joshua paused. Thinking of more ways to stall the trio.

"Are you going to kill me?" Joshua asked.

"You killed my men..."

It was already obvious that this would be a non-negotiable situation.

"They tried to kill u—" He happened to catch himself in time, "They tried to kill me!" Joshua shouted.

Again, the pestering short man of the bunch decided it was his turn to take charge.

"Damn it! Well, were sorry you little punk. We're coming in whether you like it or not! You've given us no choice but to kill you!"

As soon as he took a step forward, a gunshot was heard and his body thumped to the ground just as his blood did. Everyone jumped in surprise...except for Pamela.

* * *

In the bedroom upstairs, Pamela was quickly reloading her sniper rifle by flawlessly placing in a new magazine as an empty bullet shell hit the floor.

"No," she exhaled sharply.

She picked up her rifled after reloading it and placed it back through the small wide space through the window,

"I'm sorry," she said before pulling the trigger.


	4. Chapter 3 - Decisions, Decisions

**Summer**

* * *

Joshua watched as the two remaining bandits scatter from left to right trying to hide behind the rusted numbers of automobiles. Now they knew he wasn't alone. It was pretty dumb for them to think it in the first place. The more Joshua saw the gun shots; they were missing the men by inches. Shattering car windows or hitting the pavements, they had no place to run.

"This shit is craz-AGH!" the darker man yelled before getting shot right in the side of his head. His head flew backwards first before the rest of his body flew with him. Before his comrade knew it, the darker man was already drenched in his own blood.

The first bandit looked at his partner in complete shock and took a moment or two to remember what dire of a situation he was caught in. He trembled, calling out to him more than once. When he received no response from his friend, he placed his head down to contain him.

Pamela, on the other hand, was keeping a perfect aim. She had a somewhat full magazine and four more magazines to spare and she wasn't going to get all trigger happy for one worthless thief. She made sure that she would've followed him with every move that he made. Strangely, the bandit hadn't moved a muscle yet. Joshua and Pamela couldn't help but wonder why. Did he move without them noticing? Was he shot in the process?

With that entering Josh's mind, he quickly took out his handgun from his right side and made sure it was loaded with bullets. There were still some inside, and there wasn't any time to count them. There were about ten that last time he counted, but he couldn't remember if he used any since then. That's when Josh heard more gun shots, and closely placed his gun to his chest to crane his neck upwards through the window.

The bandit made a full, lucky run towards the house. He got shot in the arm by the sniper rifle, but that wasn't going to be enough to stop him. He screamed and roared, charging towards the house with all his might. The front entrance was too boarded up for it to be an option, but he was heard making his way through the other backyard entrance, climbing over the hood and top of Pamela's car.

Erlina was in the room where she could look out the window and see the man making his way to the backdoor. Her window, as well as any other, was safely blocked for her safety. When the man made it completely out of sight, Erlina's eyes widened and she remembered something crucial: The backdoor. The backdoor and upstairs window above it, were probably the only two places that weren't blocked off. The backdoor was capable of being locked and it had a padlock, but that didn't mean that it couldn't be kicked right off after rusting of old age.

"Joshua!" Erlina whispered sharply.

He didn't answer, being too focused of the man's whereabouts.

"Joshua!" she called again.

Looking enraged, Joshua turned his attention to her with his flared, but long, nose.

"He's coming in through the backdoor!" she said with a worried look on her face.

That's when Josh heard the gunshots from upstairs. Erlina and Joshua's guess was that Pamela was trying to shoot him from the upstairs window they both had climbed in earlier. Joshua quickly leapt to his feet and ran out of the joining room. He bolted past the kitchen and made it into the dining room. Erlina, frantically poked her head out, but reeled herself back in for her own safety. Not from the bandit, but from Joshua's scowling. Just as he entered the dining room, he made a left that led into an office with the backdoor. The doorknob was seen being rattled.

"You could just surrender!" Joshua shouted. He had his handgun grabbed firmly with both hands and he placed his head down to hear a response. The knob stopped moving.

"You killed my men. I'm not going down without a fight!" the man shouted.

Immediately, shuffling was heard. What Joshua didn't know was that the group of men had purposely hidden their weapons and that this guy was carrying a shotgun; ready to blow one's head off. That's when Joshua's eyes widened when he heard a loud 'click'. Joshua ran as soon as the door was blown off its hinges and scattered wood flew to the floor. The man charged in and spotted Joshua turning in another entrance to the kitchen, at the far corner of the dining room. The bandit didn't hesitate to shoot his shotgun, and he shot at Joshua's thin leg just as he dove into the next room. Joshua yelped and held his lower leg in pain. He reached down and rolled up the bottom of his pants. It hadn't been impaled by any bullets, but it was largely grazed. He looked up at the wall that was in front of him and it had about four to five bullet holes. Joshua imagined how lucky he was that he hadn't gotten directly hit, because he would've been a goner.

He was groaning in pain and he began crawling away from the bandit after hearing his footsteps cautiously near him. Joshua quickly turned around and aimed his glock at Gus, the bandit who was now standing over him. Joshua had now gotten a good look at Gus. He had a large brown beard and a full head of sweaty hair that was chin length. Using the stock of the shotgun, he knocked Joshua's hand back with much force as possible. The glock flew back and slid to the entrance that led to the joining room. Keeping his eyes on the handgun, Joshua stood up to chase after it. However, Gus hit him right in the face with the stock of his shotgun. The hit was so powerful it partially stunned him. From this point on, Joshua was already bleeding from his forehead. He groaned even more in pain and looked up at the bandit, seeing five Gus's towering him. Slowly, Joshua turned over and tried crawling to his handgun.

"No, no, no! You're not getting away," Gus mocked as if he were a dog trainer.

He walked behind him and kneeled over Josh's body. His slimness compared to the huge guy was such a large difference. He took the barrel of his shotgun and placed it underneath Joshua's neck, forcefully trying to crush and choke his throat by pulling the gun against it. Joshua was gasping for air and kicking his legs while Gus sat his whole body upon his back.

"NO!" Erlina shouted by the entrance of the kitchen.

Gus looked up, and Joshua forced himself to squint open his eyes. She had the handgun in her small trembling hands.

"Don't worry," Gus said loosening his grip from the barrel on Joshua's neck, "A little girl like you can't kill in cold blood. I know you can't...and just when I'm done with him," he adjusted himself over Joshua's body to prevent him from struggling free, "I'll hang your ass from a tree,"

Joshua glared up at him and struggled to get free, but it was of no use. However, from behind, Gus felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, turning his head over to see a cleaver being pulled clean from his flesh and bones. He let out a massive yell of pain and held his shoulder. In addition, he released the grip of his shotgun. It dropped to the floor and Joshua was free to linger away. Erlina ran to his side and helped sit his back up to a wall. Using the wall as support, Joshua fought himself to his feet and took the handgun from Erlina. They both watched Pamela dragged Gus by his hair to the cupboards on the other side of the kitchen and she struck his leg with the cleaver to avoid him from escaping. Again, he let out a massive yell, whimpering.

Pamela stepped over him and stepped back, not taking her eyes off the bandit, to help her son stand straight. Joshua released his mother's arm, showing that he could stand on his own. Erlina stood behind the two.

Gus's skin was red and flushed. They could tell that he was confused, scared, and angry all in once. His eyes turned red and he began crying. Erlina couldn't believe it, and even looked up at older cousin and aunt to see if they'd have the same reaction she did.

They didn't.

"You-you fucking killed my friends," he said whimpering and breathing heavily, "I-I just wanted to aven-avenge their deaths,"

Joshua raised his gun at him.

"Please!" he said placing one arm up since the wounded one didn't have the ability to do the same, "Please, I have a family waiting for be back at home. I-I just want to go see them. I promised them I'd make it back alive from this..." he said as more tears streamed down his face.

"How do we know you're not lying?" Joshua questioned; his voice sounding weak and raspy.

Gus cried even more.

"I-I won't _ever_ come back here again. I-I promise." he said with his voice crackling.

Joshua took a long moment to process what was going on and what could've happened if he let this guy go. Either way, it probably wouldn't end well. Pamela would've let him go, because her conscience hadn't completely left, and she still made the right choices but that didn't mean they weren't stupid. Erlina on the other hand, was worried about this man's family. It was just one question that surrounded all of their minds: Was he telling the truth?

That was when Joshua exhaled and placed his gun down to his side.

Gus looked up, thinking that there must've been a little more time for him to roam this shitty, moss covered planet. He saw the little girl on the far left, the young man in the middle, and his mother slightly to his right. That's when Gus realized his mistake: Coming after this innocent family instead of just staying with his.

"I'm sorry..." Josh mumbled.

Hesitantly, but quickly, Josh lifted his arm up and shot Gus right in the head. Erlina shrieked and turned away after seeing the stranger's blood splatter all over the cupboards. His body was heard sliding to the floor and Pamela crossed her arms and looked down. Normally, a mother would question her son's intentions...but it was understood.

* * *

"Ouch," Joshua winced.

"It needs to be stitched or else this will take months to heal," Pamela said, "Also, we don't have any of the proper medication for it..."

Joshua groaned and placed his head back on the couch with his leg extended on the coffee table.

"It could get infected. You've already lost a lot of blood," she explained even more.

"Can't an infection lead to death?" Josh asked.

His mother nodded.

"Yes, but you're not going to die. So, stop talking like that." she said rather calmly.

"You can't say that," Joshua said drawing the facts together. They were practically deadbeats when it came to items that could actually save their own lives rather than kill others.

His mother glared at him and pursed her lips in annoyance.

"Anyway, I'm going to toss that bandit's body in the basement with the two others...then afterward I'll see if I can prepare something to eat." she said getting up and putting on her elastic gloves.

"Make sure you change gloves," Josh commented jokingly.

She snickered before exiting the room.

Erlina was in her bedroom, quietly listening to everything. After hearing about Joshua possibly dying, she leapt off her bed and closed her bedroom door. Leaning on it momentarily, she locked herself inside and threw herself back on her old mattress. She stared at the ceiling and tears began to flood her eyes and they ran down the sides of her face. She began sniffling and placed her forearm on her face, trying to smother her whimpering. Biting her bottom lip, starred at the ceiling even longer. Thoughts of her father infiltrated her mind because that's what the thought of losing someone close to her always led to. If she could run to the moon and back just to see her father one more time; guaranteed she would.

Turning to her side, she inhaled and exhaled with a slight tremble. She watched her musty room that was lit by only three candles on her dresser, and the moonlight from the night sky. Coincidentally enough, that's when Erlina noticed her bows, quiver, and arrow leaning against the wall, lit by the rays of the moonlight. That's when she wiped her eyes and cleared her throat. Erlina thought very long and hard about the choice she was going to make. Her conversation with Joshua from earlier today replayed in her head. She was still clothed in the same garments from that evening, so she was practically prepared for another hunt. She placed on her boots and grabbed her weapons and tools. Meanwhile placing on her shoulder bag, she slowly opened the door to make sure no one was nearby.

She thought out her escape as she stood by the doorway. She heard her aunt in the joining room, which was the only way through the back. The front door was obviously not an option, it'd be too obvious. That's when the light bulb finally lit. She exited the room and shuffled her way upstairs. Thanks to that godforsaken house, the old steps squeaked every step you made. Nervously, Erlina placed her fingers on to her lips.

"Erlina?" Joshua said slightly distant. He was falling asleep.

"Hmm?" she answered quietly afraid to look back.

"What are you doing?"

She was fully braced to plead the fifth. She turned around, having her braids fly over her shoulder, but she stopped after noticing that he hadn't even moved a muscle. He was facing the opposite direction and there was no way he could tell that she was armed to her own tooth.

"I-I was going to the bathroom..." She said unsurely.

"But there's a bathroom down here,"

He began moving his head a little to the side. She needed to think of something quick or else he'd have a reason to look at her.

"I left my flashlight upstairs..." she lied.

"Oh alright, go get it. _Quickly_," he spoke sternly.

Nearly dying from a thousand heart beats per second, Erlina's nerves calmed down. Finally, she was able to slide past and continue with her trek. Continuing up the stairs to the second level of the house, she took out her flashlight out of her bag. It was the small LED flashlight, and it was large enough to fit through the small strap on the shoulder of her denim jacket. The night summer breeze was felt through the old, rooftops and ceilings that had broken spaces in them. It felt better up here since going outside was so rear.

She quietly, made her way to the small room that she had climbed in through earlier that day. This was going to be the difficult part. She bent down, tossing a bunch of her hair over one shoulder and tried touching the ladder. Lifting it only a few inches, it made noise. Bumping from wall to wall, she had no choice but to cautiously rest it back down. The ladder was too big for her to carry and if she even could get it out the window, she'd make a crap load of noise. She'd probably drop it before even getting to go outside with it. Erlina sighed, resting her dry palms on the windowsill and resting her forehead on the stained glass. She sighed, thinking to herself how much of a _stupid_ idea it was in the first place.

Startled by something that caught her attention on the far right of the window, she noticed it was nothing but a cute, harmless squirrel. Pulling her head off the window, she smiled. Examining its movements, the squirrel did nothing but sniff around for a bit. She guessed its curiousness was only temporary because right away, it ran off the roof top to a thick three branch across the roof. The squirrel ran down the tree truck and quickly jetted off.

It hit Erlina right in the face. She looked at the tree truck, and she could almost feel that the tree was waving, waiting to be noticed as the breeze blew most its thinnest branches. She quickly opened the window and began shuffling her way onto the rooftop. Mimicking an acrobat on a wire, she tried walking with the softest steps. Reaching the edge, she examined the branch. It was thick, and really sturdy. Erlina wildly guessed it could handle her weight. Erlina backed up to the window once more and closed it. Running for more velocity and a better chance of reaching the tree, she leapt off the edge. She made it onto the tree branch, but only had her torso and arms upon it. Her lower half dangled and kicking her legs made it worse. Her upper body strength wasn't something she could really depend on, so trying to climb up was no use. Therefore, she began losing her grip. Ultimately, she fell unto another branch beneath her. It somewhat slowed down her fall, since it caught her, but it snapped.

"Oh no!" she cried after hearing it snap.

She managed to turn her body over and she fell unto the tall crowds of weeds and grass. The fall hurt, of course, but not as much as she expected. She groaned and fixed herself up, sitting in a crouched position. She extended her arm backwards and rubbed her back.

"Ugh, damn it!" she cursed, covering her mouth afterward.

That's when she turned her attention to the house after hearing pots and pans being placed on the table through the joining room window. Her aunt stopped focusing on the food and that wasn't a good sign. Erlina immediately got up out of the weeds and picked up her speed, hiding behind a stack of three old tires and a broken down picnic table. She could hear the back door being pushed open. Every bush and tall plant was in the way of a light that explored the back yard. Erlina stayed in the shadows, avoiding to be seen by her aunt's flashlight. After a couple of seconds of silence and sweat, her aunt returned to her duties.

Poking her head above the tires to make sure the coast was clear; she beamed through the backyard and made her way over the short fence by using her short legs to haul herself over. She ran from the house, lingering a couple of yards away. Thankfully, it wasn't a far travel. Walking across the street, she climbed up a sloped parking lot entrance. She walked a little further and stopped, standing in the middle of various other cars.

"Alright, there's got to be some antibiotics in there..." she pled.

She looked up at the old, worn out; large building that stood in front of her and read the large, dusty sign on the side of it.

"St. Gerard Catholic School..."


	5. Chapter 4 - The School

**Summer**

* * *

She listened closely, looking around her to make sure that no one followed her. Coming to a place like this probably had to be the worst. She felt so stupid after remembering the shotgun that the bandit left in their house. It was still lingering in the kitchen, and she should've taken it. All she was now was a little girl with a bow and _six_ arrows. She could guarantee that there were more than six infected in that place. She gulped, thought about not just clickers, but lurkers and everything else; the ones that could actually see her. As the thoughts surrounded her head meanwhile she explored the area, something caught her eye over by one of the entrance. She stopped. It was small, and it wasn't moving. She walked over to it to get a closer look. It was a gas mask with an old note underneath. Picking it up, she read it:

"_Nate, _

_James and I will be waiting for you inside the school. Like we said we'd do, I'm really excited for clearing out the infected and claiming this place as our own. Just in case you forgot your gas mask, I brought a spare. Use this to get inside the school. You know large places like this are usually swarming with spores in certain rooms. James just managed to open a passage to the basement. See you later, brother._

_-Everett."_

She exhaled after reading the letter. Erlina folded the note and shoved it in the back pocket of her black jeans.

"Sorry, Nate..." she said as she picked up the gas mask, putting it in her bag.

Her best guess was that these guys never made it in or out, considering the gas mask was just left there. Erlina knew there were three noticeable entrances around this place, two on the sides and one in the front. The front and other side of the school were very large entrances. They were those typical church doors, and they were presumably locked off. Erlina was by the other side entrance and it was one of those huge metal, regular sized doors that you saw in every building. Erlina placed her hand firmly on the large door handle, and pulled with all her might, but her small tugs did nothing.

That's when she turned her attention to the far left of the building. She noticed a large gate guarding some stairs. She slowly paced towards it, and noticed that the gate's padlock had been broken. Pulling open the gate, she realized that it led to some stairs. The stairs led to the basement perhaps, and the doorway was already slightly open; possibly for Nate.

Erlina used her hands to open the small door. Not completely, but slightly. Immediately, she heard clicking and moaning once she was in hearing distance. She brought her foot slightly back. Maybe coming here wasn't such a good idea. But, Joshua's injury entered her thoughts again. She had to do this for him, or it could be just her and her aunt this time. Immediately, she spotted jillions of particles, spores, floating in the air. What perfect timing, she thought. Reaching in her bag, she put on the gasmask and began breathing no differently. In the basement was some more stairs she had to climb down; probably just five. As she made her way down, she hid near the very corner of a stage. It stood high enough to block her from any Runner. She examined the basement and noticed that it was similar to a cafeteria. Surprisingly enough, there were open lunch tables already turned on their sides and a couple of dead infected. Erlina turned on her LED flashlight, and it brightened certain areas in the room.

Examining the room, there appeared to be, about, three to four Clickers and Runners. That's when she hastily placed her head back down. Erlina hated Runners and Stalkers the most, and she had yet to encounter the huge fourth kind. She was taught, the best way to turn away attention from these things were to throw something that could catch their attention. Like blind dogs, they would chase the sound, hoping to ravage whatever life they could get their hands on. Looking around, Erlina couldn't find anything. This was hopeless. Slowly, but quickly, Erlina moved on, crawling behind a turned table. As she stopped to take a breather and wipe most of the sweat off her neck, she heard something approaching her way. Listening closely, it could be told that it was a female Runner. She was moaning in painful aggravation, something that wasn't nice to listen to. She didn't know why, but Erlina placed off her flash light and tucked herself in more than anything. Thankfully, she turned backed just inches away from spotting Erlina. She exhaled, turning back on her flashlight. Looking down at the dusty floor, a visible rock was there. It was big enough to fit in her palm, and it was of considerable weight. Using her arm, she tossed it to a very far end of the basement she was in. Accidentally, she hit a clicker in the head. It shrieked, and many others went around it once they heard the rock hit the floor.

Erlina immediately began to crawl away from the table she hid behind and made her way to one of the five pillars that stood in the basement. It was the one nearest the exit, and she took her last look at the infected before leaving the room. Without a moment to spare, she quickly and discreetly made it out of the basement and headed towards stairs. There were many paths to take, but one led directly to the women's room as mentioned in a rusted sign dangling from the wall.

Making her way to the base floor, she looked around. The coast and air was clear. Taking off the gas mask, she placed it in her bag. All that was there was the catholic mass and two other lock doors. The large glass doors that led to the mass were sealed shut. Erlina went to the door just to see through the large glass, but there was nothing that really caught her interest. Out of the blue, a Clicker ran to the door and started banging at it. It was surprising to see that this glass hadn't broken yet. Time was running out, and it was a waste of time to focus on these things.

That's when she made her way to the first floor, the first floor, surprisingly was clear. Most importantly, the floor above had collapsed. There was no way she could make it to the next floor without falling right through the stair case. It seemed that even the floors had gotten weak, because the hallway above had collapsed too. She voyaged through almost every class room and found nothing but empty first aid kits.

"Oh, man..." she groaned in frustration.

She used her dainty hand to flip many of the many long braids from over her shoulder. She roamed up and down the hallway, multiple times. That's when she decided to check if moving on the next floor could actually be an option. Still on the first floor, she walked beneath the part of the roof that had already collapsed. Being able to see a couple of doors from above, there was one that stood out most to her. Squinting her eyes, she focused on the words listed on a rusting sign.

"Nurse'- O-e" it spelled, most of the letters being unreadable.

That's when she pieced it together and her eyes shot open,

"Nurses office!" she cheered silently.

She remembered seeing an entrance to the back staircases, and that's what was going to aid her to the last floor. As she silently walked up the stairs, always keeping her guard up, she eventually reached the exit to the last floor. She silently opened the door and began smiling. She couldn't believe that she made it this far and hadn't even been bitten or killed. If it wasn't luck, then she didn't know what it was. Erlina walked a couple of feet away, passing every class room there was. Her mistake, however, was assuming that the top floor was just as clear as the last. You could say that poor Erlina's luck was running out. Turning around after hearing a strange moan somewhat followed after a click. Her heart was racing a million miles again. In the distance, there was nothing in sight. Erlina faced back the opposite direction and continued walking forward, but her attention was caught by a full blown shout. Erlina turned her head so quickly, her braids went with her, and she saw a Stalker beaming right at her. She screamed and didn't even bother hesitate running. She darted away from the creature as quickly as she can.

"When those things chase you, don't ever look back. Because you have more of a chance of getting grabbed than escaping," she heard Joshua's voice say.

She ran and ran her hardest and could feel herself winning the race. Her finish line was what worried her the most: The collapsed floor. Could she make that jump to reach the nurses office? As the hole in the floor became closer and closer, it was eventually reached. Nearing the very edge of hallway, she jumped her hardest, even feeling a small sting on her thin ankles. She reached out both hands, praying that she could make it. But this next part shocked her most of all. She made the jump, alright, but not completely. Again, she was dangling off the edge of it, using both hands to hang on for her dear life. Remember that note on her upper body strength? She wouldn't die if she let go, but that'd be one hell of an injury if she let go.

The Stalker had jumped after her, but didn't stick the landing as it went crashing into the hall below. It broke both of its legs, but it was still salivating for Erlina's flesh. She glanced down at it, and it was waiting for her to fall on top of it, just so he could tear her to pieces. She began struggling, and she was losing her grip. Her eyes were flooding with tears, and she was fighting to pull herself up, but she just didn't require the strength too. As her grip slipped free from the edge, she released a loud shriek, but suddenly stopped, looked up to see a male figure grab her arm.

"It's okay!" he said.

Was he an angel? She wondered; tears still falling down her cheeks. Fairly, he pulled her up and over the edge and fell backwards on his rear end after seeing that she was in good condition. No scratches or bites; she was good to go. Erlina was laying on her front, exhausted and devastated all in one. She was breathing heavily, trying to catch her breath. She used her arms to help herself sit up and she scooted away from the edge of the collapsed floor just in case anything else was to give way. The rooftop above them was still up, but it was crumbling bit by bit.

She looked up at the stranger who helped her. He looked really young, probably about sixteen to seventeen years old. After she was finished analyzing him, he stood up on his two feet quickly, and opened another entrance that led into a class room beside the nurse's office.

"You coming in or what?" he asked.

Erlina didn't know how to react. She knew she couldn't trust anyone, but would an enemy save her life? With much hope in her heart, she followed the young man into the class room and closed the door behind her. She stood by the doorway after it was closed and she twiddled with her fingers, looking down and thinking. The young dude placed his hands on his hips and then crossed his arms afterward, releasing a loud sigh. He walked over to an old teacher's desk that wasn't too far from where she stood, and he leaned on it,

"You okay?" he asked, sounding quite concerned.

She could only nod.

"That was a pretty close call, huh?"

Erlina nodded again.

He slowly walked up to her, causing Erlina to turn her head even more, but she watched him from the corner of her eye. Quickly, he extended his arm.

"Nate Hyong," he introduced.

Erlina turned her neck, to see the young man offering her a handshake. There was less tension in her from before, and she relaxed her hunched shoulders. She grabbed his hand and nodded, forcing a little smirk.

"Erlina," she greeted back.

Nate smiled at her and chuckled. He seemed relieved from getting an answer out of her. Also, he had a really outstanding aura. He wasn't like the other guys out there. He had a couple of canned fruits that he had already started eating. He offered her, but she declined. She wasn't really in the mood to eat. He grabbed a can, and was using a plastic fork to eat, savoring it as if it were steak.

"So, what's a little girl like you doing here?" He asked.

She hesitated. One look at him made her spill.

"My cousin is hurt," she vaguely confessed, "I just want some pain killers, rubbing alcohol...probably stitches."

"So you came here on your own..." Nate added.

"I snuck out. They're probably already waiting back at the house to kill me," she said, "I should've let that Stalker grab me."

Nate immediately began to laugh hysterically, "Now that's pretty funny."

Erlina smiled back at him and surprised herself by remembering something pretty astonishing. Placing her hand in her back pockets, she pulled out the folded note she found outside earlier. Along with the note, she took the gas mask out from her shoulder bag and offered both to him.

"I found this outside with the gas mask," she said,

Nate took the letter and began reading it. He knew what it was from the time he laid eyes on it. Believe it or not, he began crying and chuckling, remembering their faces.

"I can't believe I left this outside," he said walking to a student's desk and sitting in it.

"Thank you so much," he said crossing his arms.

Among all the other various desks, lined up in messy rows, Erlina chose one to sit in too. She offloaded herself, taking off the shoulder bag and weapons and resting them beside her. Her body was finally able to breath, and she could move around freely without any limits. She crossed her lower legs and rested her head on her hand.

"Did you find them...?" Erlina asked cautiously.

Nate nodded, "Yeah, I did. But not how I wanted to find them."

Erlina continued watching Nate. He was trying incredibly hard to hold in his sobs. She could almost feel the gloom.

"Were they infected?"

"Uh, yeah," he gulped, "They—they, uh...they took their own lives though," he said nodding to himself.

"They're bodies are in the library opposite this room." He nervously added.

Erlina didn't know what to say. She wasn't so good in situations like this. Most of time, she made things really awkward by either trying to change the subject or talking about it for too long.

"James and Everett were my closest friends for as long as I could remember. Practically grew up with them," he said wiping his eyes.

Erlina exhaled, "I'm sorry,"

He nodded in understanding, taking off his cap to rub his forehead free from a migraine, "It's okay..."

A moment of silence grew in the room.

"I lost my dad a year ago," Erlina joined in.

"That sucks..." he said.

"I haven't really been able to talk about it with my family. They're still trying to get over it," she said rubbing her eyes.

"Sometimes, the best way to get over it _is_ to talk about it, you know?" Nate wisely said.

"I-I mean, I guess..." Erlina said looking away slightly ashamed.

If she would've known that, she would've been talking about it almost every minute of the day. She's had bottled up emotions and hate from the day she lost her father. It was never really explained to her, and most of her misunderstanding went towards her aunt. He was with her. Why didn't her aunt protect him? Why wasn't she there to protect him herself? Then again, she knew better. Her aunt had done nothing but provided for her most of all; could be guilt. Erlina fought back the tears and looked at Nate's condition. He was pretty dirty, and he looked like he had been camping in here for a couple of nights.

"How long have you been here?" she said.

"Probably about a week..."

"Don't you want to leave?"

Nate didn't answer after a while, "After seeing James and Everett...I-I tried killing myself. Wimped out," he chuckled.

Erlina couldn't laugh, and Nate noticed that. He guessed there were certain things you couldn't joke about to a little girl, even if she had seen some pretty gnarly things in her lifetime.

"But, uh, I just lost the will to leave this place. I can't do it on my own...I can see myself giving up,"

Another pause occurred.

"We can leave together..." Erlina recommended.

Nate looked up at her and smiled.

* * *

Without a question, Nate agreed to leave with Erlina. Personally, he didn't just do it for himself, but he mostly did it for her. It was funny that a teenager like him had so much to learn from a young girl such as herself. Getting up from his seat, he walked over to the teacher's desk and scooted back the wooden chair. Underneath was a hidden backpack and hatchet. Reaching in his book bag, he pulled out a pistol and put it in the back pocket of his jeans. Erlina, as always put on her shoulder bag first, with her quiver over it, while the bow hung from her shoulder. Nate noticed her quiver, and thought six arrows were a really low count for someone to defend themselves with.

Nate opened the door that led out to the hallway. A large segment of the floors still hadn't collapsed, so Erlina and Nate had enough room to move around freely. The nurse's office was the first to definitely grab Erlina's attention. She walked towards the door, and slowly opened it. She shuffled her eyes left and right before fully placing both feet into the room.

"I'll be right back," Nate said after supervising her. He turned into the library.

Erlina didn't question why Nate was going into the room where Everett and James bodies were. She could only make a limited amount of guesses, but there was no time to think now. She turned her attention back to the office and searched relentlessly through the cabinets and cupboards. There were files upon files and Erlina was becoming frustrated. She didn't come this way for nothing! There had to be _something_ at least. Walking further into the office, she was led into a bathroom. The first thing she did was open up the mirrored cabinet and the bottom cupboard underneath the sink. There wasn't much in there except for a couple of painkillers in the cabinet above, and half used bottles of peroxide and rubbing alcohol below. Luckily enough, she found a first aid kit with some bandages. After tightening the tops of the bottles, she tossed every last one of it in her bag without hesitation.

"Found anything?" she heard Nate call out from the outside.

"Yeah!" she replied satisfied, "Just no stiches..." she added.

Closing up her bag, she made her way back to the exit of the nurse's office. Outside in the hallway, she noticed a plank successfully set up, reaching one edge of the collapsed hallway to the other. Not to mention, Nate had a handful of arrows in his hand. She made the conjecture that maybe they were for her, but didn't want to jump so quickly to conclusions. She made a quick count and could say there were probably nine in his hand. His face also looked different, like he was crying.

"Ah, there you are," He said relieved to see her, "I went in there to get you these..." he said walking behind her and putting them neatly in her quiver.

"And to say goodbye to them..." Nate sniffed.

"Thank you," Erlina said with much appreciation.

"Now you have seventeen. Use them wisely. They always broke when James tried using them on clickers," Nate advised.

Erlina nodded. Turned out she counted them a little too quickly, but whatever; the more the merrier.

"Oh! One more thing," he said reaching at his side. Taking one of the two gas masks off, he passed it to Erlina, "You can have it. Lovely reminder of me," he chuckled.

Afterward, Nate began prowling over the plank. The Stalker was still at the bottom, but it was in a different location. It managed to move around just a little by the use of its arms and it hadn't noticed them. Erlina's turn to walk the plank was next.

"That plank was already there when I came here. I'm guessing another group of guys left it..." Nate said.

Refraining to look down at all costs, keeping her eyes on Nate, she alertly made her way to the other side.

"Awesome, let's get out of here!" Nate said turning away and running down the hallway.

Erlina, too, ran after Nate. He was a really fast runner, but she still managed to keep up with him. He ran to the back stair cases because, remember: The last flight of stairs had also collapsed with the hallway. Nate looked through the small window of the door and could tell that the back stairs were clear.

"The second level was clear when I came in..." Erlina said looking at him.

"Until that Stalker followed you?" he commented as a reminder.

"That's true..." she admitted in understanding.

Nate slowly opened the door, trying to prevent a lot of noise from the creaking of the door. Standing a bit by the steps, he was listening closely. After not hearing a sound, Nate continued walking. Erlina followed, slowly letting the door close. They both ran down the stairs, eventually making it to the second level. Opening the door, Erlina placed her little hands on his wrist.

"What are you doing...?" Erlina asked.

"You said you needed stiches right?"

She nodded.

"Well there's a laboratory up ahead where students would perform operations on frogs and stuff..." Nate enlightened her.

"You don't have to—"

"I want to," he insisted.

Opening the door, he went ahead of Erlina, gradually couching down because of the Stalker from earlier. Erlina just followed his every movement, doing the exact same thing. He put his hand back and looked at her, shushing her by putting his finger to his lips. Sneaking up on the legless Stalker, Nate drove his hatchet right into its head, hammering it about three times in the cranium. After a few moments of confirming it dead, he walked back to a door where Erlina stood by. Nate carefully opened the door, looking around to make sure nothing was in sight. Walking in after confirming that the room was safe, Nate went to exact location where most of the tools were. He searched the draws a little more and picked up a small plastic bag with curved needles. With it, he gave Erlina gave suture thread. She thanked him, putting it in her bag. Although being in this school was probably the scariest thing she'd ever done, she was nothing but grateful for Nate's help.

He walked out of the room, and Erlina followed after buckling up her bag. Considering the weight in her bag, it wasn't heavy. It had quite a few pounds to it, but that didn't bother her as long as it was doable. Since the two were closest to the regular flight of stairs, they decided to make their way down those instead. It was a good choice, until they both heard a loud shatter as if a baseball had flew in through a window.

"What. The. Hell..." Nate said, slowing down his footsteps. Erlina held on tightly to the railings as she walked down behind him. She had an idea what if could've been, but was afraid to jinx herself if it wasn't the case. Making their way to base level of the school by reaching the last flight of stairs, Nate noticed the glass of the mass door was broken through and that there were shards of glass all over the floor.

Out of the corner of the steps, a Clicker ran out, croaking at them. They both yelped in terror. Nate pulled out his handgun, and gave the sucker a bullet in the head twice. Thanks to his quick actions, the creature fell flat on its back in seconds, twitching as it became lifeless.

"Uh, Nate..." Erlina said.

Unable to finish her sentence, Nate fearfully looked at her after hearing numerous crying and screaming from down in the basement. Nate, grabbed Erlina by the shoulders, telling her to run back up the stairs, and they shuffled the quickest they could, and made it back towards the second level. The cries were coming closer and closer, and Erlina turned back to see about six runners and clickers chasing after them after they reached the end of the hall.

"Put on your gas mask, we'll be reaching the basement straight from these stair cases!" Nate warned about the back stairs.

Erlina remembered the spores, and the duo put their gas masks on as quickly as they could. Erlina was having the most trouble multitasking, but just before they reached the basement, she had it worn safely on her face. There was another exit in the basement other than the first one Erlina entered in. This one was one of those double security doors. Nate was already at the door, with one side slightly open waiting for Erlina to exit first. Breathing heavily she ran outside, and Nate followed.

Placing her hands on her knees for exhaustion, Erlina heard a soft yell. Erlina turned to see Nate fighting to close the door meanwhile having a runner's arm tightly clenched around his neck. Tensely, Erlina quickly pulled off her bow from around her shoulder, and pulled out arrow from the quiver. She aimed at the Runner's face; notably a spot between its two glowing red eyes, and fired. The creature squealed and released Nate's neck. Nate held his neck and slid down the door and fell on his behind. He was exhausted from all the running and staying in that building was nothing compared to the outside. He brought his weak arms up and took off his gas mask, inhaling the fresh, cool air. Fresh air was something that was never overlooked after all those spores started swarming places. Erlina, followed and did the same, but at a more cheap level. Nate stood up, and made a head movement, signaling the young girl to follow. Erlina followed Nate to the parking lot she first stood in to enter the school.

"So!" Nate said turning around.

"So?" Erlina said looking up at him in, completely confident with his next choice. However, there wasn't much of one.

Nate was happy to see that her smile had gotten wider from when he met her.

"I guess this is it," he said turn around and pacing back towards her.

Erlina's smile vanished clean from her face.

"What do you mean?" Erlina said.

"I'll be going back to my camp,"

"Bu-but you can't!" Erlina said dreadfully.

Nate looked at the alone child, fixating a look of discomfort, "I have family, Erlina...They're probably wondering where I've been, and I've been worried sick about them,"

She stared at him and he anxiously looked back.

"Okay..." said Erlina, crushed. She bit her bottom lip and tears began flooding her eyes again. She hated crying. She turned to wipe her eyes with her arm.

"Hey!" Nate exclaimed. Quickly walking up to her and bending down to her height, "Hey, hey...don't cry...I'll be fine,"

"Wh-what if I never see you again, Nate?" Erlina asked worriedly.

"Believe me; we'll see each other again,"

Erlina knew that was a damned lie, but she appreciated the attempt.

"My family...we have room for one more person," Erlina admitted. She showed him their house by directly pointing at it. But it still wasn't enough to convince Nate to stay.

He grabbed her hands and looked her in her big brown eyes, "Erlina, you've-you've given me hope," he said tearing up in the eyes, "An all new kind of hope," He paused. "No matter how much you lose, you just have to keep on fighting for others and _yourself_" he said pointing at her heart.

Erlina sniffed loudly.

"You're one of the bravest people I've ever met, and I'll _never_ forget about you,"

Erlina, ultimately, reached in for a hug and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, causing him to kneel on one knee. However, he hugged her back. He grabbed her tightly as he felt a knot form in his throat.

"Thank you so much for everything," Erlina's voice cracked, "I'll tell my family everything you did and I'll always remind myself..."

Nate released her, and told her to go while he safely watched her make it back home. He knew it wasn't a wise decision to do such a thing to go voyaging on his own, but he didn't have a list of options at the moment. He had to get back to his camp, see his family and friends and spread the word about James and Everett and especially Erlina. As Erlina crossed the street, and made it over the fence, she stopped and turned to wave goodbye one last time. Like when he met her, she was twiddling with her fingers until he waved back with a chuckled and smirk. Unable to take her eyes off of him, she walked behind the house, fully out of sight. Nate sniffed, and wiped his eyes. A part of him wanted her to at least come back to wave again, but she didn't.

"Stop being a bitch..." he said to himself after wiping his own eyes and leaving the premises.


End file.
